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Why is it that IT can be a company’s strategic differentiator—or can bring a company to its knees—yet corporate boards rarely appoint CIOs?

Why is it that global risk, information security and data strategy have become top concerns for most companies, yet there is typically no one on the Board with expertise in these areas?

There are a number of vexing answers to this riddle: CEOs discomfort with technology, board of director seats going to executives considered more strategic than CIOs, and the sheer fact that old habits die hard.

But either way, little by little, we are starting to see positive change. As a case in point, Riverbed Technology, an application performance company, added Kimberly Stevenson to its board of directors. Currently, Stevenson serves as CIO of Intel Corporation. As is the case with Riverbed Technology, most companies with CIOs on their boards are in the technology space, for obvious reasons. If you are a CIO in search of a board seat, the technology sector would be a good place to start.

At any rate, onto the news! This month has seen quite a bit of activity in the retail space. Thanks, as always, to my friend Cathy Hotka, Principal of Cathy Hotka & Associates, for this great retail news:

Denise ("Dee") Clark was recently appointed CIO at Estee Lauder. Clark previously led the IT organization as CIO at Hasbro for five years. Prior to Hasbro, she was VP of IT at Fisher Price and CTO at Mattel. She also currently serves as Chair of the National AIDS Fund.

Eric Singleton has replaced Gary King as CIO of Chico's FAS. King stepped down after leading Chico’s IT department for eight years. Previously, Singleton was SVP of Technology and Applications at Chicos, and prior to that, held leadership roles at AOL, Tommy Hilfiger, Inc., and Raytheon Company.

Mark Delche was promoted from CTO to SVP and CIO at DSW, the branded footwear and accessories retailer. Delche previously served DSW as VP of Solutions Delivery and Senior Director Engineering and Enterprise Architecture before his role as CTO. Prior to joining DSW, he established a ten year career at Limited Brands.

Loehmann's promoted their CIO, William Thayer, to COO. Thayer has been with Loehmann’s for over 15 years and has held various roles including SVP of IT and VP of Logistics.

Simone Pacciarini was promoted to World Wide MIS Director, also known as CIO in the U.S, at Gucci. Pacciarini has been at the luxury designer label for almost seven years previously serving as Information System Director Region America and Retail, CRM, Regional Logistics Innovation IT Program Manager.

Ascena Retail Group, Inc., operator of Justice, Lane Bryant, Dressbarn, and other specialty retail stores, announced yesterday that David Johns will join them as SVP and CIO. Previously, Johns served the last nine years as CIO and Chief Global Shared Services Officer at Owens Corning.

And in other industry news…

Nodality, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, appointed Dr. Guy Cavet for the newly created position of CIO and Head of Computational Sciences. Dr. Cavet will report to Laura Brege who was recently appointed President and CEO. Previously, Dr. Cavet served as VP of Life Sciences at Kaggle, Inc., and prior to that, as VP of Informatics at Crescendo Bioscience.

Last week, brokerage and investment bank Raymond James promoted Vin Campagnoli to CIO. Campagnoli, who joined Raymond James in 2011, previously worked in the private client technology group of UBS AG's Wealth Management Americas operation. Campagnoli replaces Tim Eitel who will continue to provide technology leadership in an advisory role.

Liquidity Services, Inc., announced the appointment of Leoncio Casusolas CIO. Casusol will report to Bill Angrick, Chairman of the company, and will be responsible for optimizing the Liquidity Servies’ technology platforms, operations, and services. Prior, Casusol was CIO of Terremark, part of Verizon, and before that held the role of SVP of Technology at Quadrem, an Ariba Company.